


The Distortion of Our Misplaced Youth

by perch



Category: Uta-kata
Genre: F/F, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-22
Updated: 2012-12-22
Packaged: 2017-11-22 01:02:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/604105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perch/pseuds/perch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>'Fix-it fic" that gives a new ending after the closing credits of Episode 12. Warning: Teen-rated Violence, pseudo-incest and depression.</p>
<p>Kai is gone, but Sei's not giving up so easily.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Distortion of Our Misplaced Youth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mikeneko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikeneko/gifts).



‘I want to apologize, for what happened six years ago,’ Kai said, leaning over Sei’s unconscious form. ‘I love you.’

Lips brushed lips and then…

And then he’d disappeared.

Sei looked around the empty, abandoned house, glancing over at Ichika who held a shard from the lost mirror. In his own hand he had its twin, all that remained of Kai.

‘Saya?’ his voice inquired, while his fingers gripped the shard more firmly, clutching it to his chest.

‘She’s gone, they’re all gone,’ Ichika’s eyes swam with tears, reflecting his own heart.

‘I know, I know,’ he said in the stillness of the room. ‘Even the mirror.’

‘Manatsu,’ she sobbed, rocking in place.

‘We should go,’ Sei muttered, getting to his feet, brushing the dust off his clothes. ‘Before someone sees us.’

Leaving, he walked her to her door, too numb to think straight; the shard still clutched in his hand. He declined the invitation inside and wandered back to his own home, past dark, silent windows and into his room. There he’s surrounded by pictures, mementos, textbooks, reports, soccer balls and trophies.

Everywhere he turns he sees Kai, except next to him. Sobbing Sei slumps to the floor each tear a memory and each memory tearing at his breath, forming ragged sobs as he remembers.

Time passes. The house is too quiet. His life is too quiet. He’s alone again, the way he was six years ago. The neighbors gossip and he looks at the pamphlet.

‘Study in Germany,’ he says to the shard.

‘Kai…you,’ He amended. ‘You were excited for this.’

‘I miss you.’

 

It was easy to start up the paperwork and get his life in line for a move. Passport, packing, closing up the house, confirmation of his lodgings overseas. Saying good-bye to Ichika, the tree where he tried to bury the amulet and the school where he found the mirror. The shard stayed in his pocket this time or in his hand. Occasionally he heard whispers from behind the hands of his neighbors, but he ignored them.

Soon the day of his departure arrived. He double checked his things while he waited for the Tachibana’s to come give him a lift to the airport.

A knock echoed in the emptied front hall.

‘They’re early,’ he mused, touching the pocket where he kept Kai for comfort. ‘Hello and thank you again-.’

Outside a police detective stood with a patrol officer.

‘Yes officer?’ Sei asked. ‘May I help you?’

‘Are you Sei Toudou?’ the detective asked, stretching out his hand to shake Sei’s.

‘Yes, is something wrong?’ Sei searched his memories frantically. ‘Did something happen to my parents?’

‘There’s been a disappearance reported at this residence,’ the detective continued. ‘May we come in?’

‘At this…location?’ Sei slipped his hand towards his pocket again, the officers eyes following his movements. ‘I, I don’t know what you mean…’.

‘Mister Toudou,’ the detective’s voice grew crisper, his hand moving to his side. ‘Where’s your brother Kai?’

‘Where’s my brother Kai?’ Sei repeated the question, an involuntary sob rising in his throat, mixed with a bitter laugh. ‘I don’t know, he just left one day.’

‘And you didn’t think to call the authorities,’ the police officer barked from behind the detective’s shoulder. ‘Don’t you care about his life?’

‘More than you’ll ever know,’ Sei’s voice raged inside, but he kept a polite non-smile on his lips.

‘Enough,’ the detective raised his hand. ‘Mr. Sei Toudou we wish to speak to you about the disappearance of your brother.’

‘Now?’ asked, his voice hollowing out. ‘I’ve got a plane to catch. I’m studying abroad in Germany.’

‘We’d prefer it if you didn’t leave the country at this time,’ the Detective continued, pulling out his card. ‘Are your parents home?’

‘No, no my father and step-mother are abroad,’ Sei looked at the card, the detective, the neighbors gathering by their front gates, gossiping in their hands. ‘I don’t have anything to serve you, but won’t you come in?’

‘Thank you,’ the detective moved past him, motioning to the police man to stay outside.

‘Please take a seat in the next room,’ Sei closed the door with a gentle click, his emotions running ragged in his chest and Kai’s shard heavy in his pocket.

It was less an interrogation and more an observation, Sei watching the detective watch him. He didn’t know what to do with his hands, or how to answer the questions posed him. Finally the officer left. Ichiko and her mother arrived and were sent away. Sei’s school notified. Again Sei was alone.

‘Saya, this is Saya’s doing,’ he thought, his face evening out into a blank stare. ‘I need to find Saya and get Kai back.’

 

The sun was setting and there was no food for dinner so he walked outside into the cold, oppressive stares of his neighbors. Down to the local convenience store where he was stopped short, his cheap pre-made dinner in his hand, by a power outage.

‘Not again,’ the store clerk muttered.

‘I hope it’s not like the one from this summer,’ a customer’s voice came out of the dark, eerily close to Sei’s ear.

He jumped, dropping his food and started from the store, pushing against one person and another on his way out.

‘Hey watch it!’

‘How rude!’

Outside Sei scanned the sky, his hand clutching the shard in his pocket.

‘I can’t see the Jinn anymore,’ he muttered, taking off in a dead run towards his house. ‘I don’t even know what direction to look.’

The road to his home never seemed so long as his steps pounded the pavement, eating through his sleepy street, his garage door fighting his fingers as he flung it up and the dust cover on his motorcycle was tossed onto his father’s car. The engine growled as he turned the key in the ignition too hard; his lights the only thing keeping darkness at bay. He skidded out onto the street nearly running Ichika over as she ran headlong into his high beams.

‘Wait Sei,’ she gasped, clutching her knees for support. ‘Do you think? The Jinn? I can’t see them, but the power is out all over the city.’

‘Get on,’ Sei snapped. ‘We’ll find out together.’

They raced through the streets and onto the highway, nearly empty at that time of night. Sei still curled dangerously close to the pavement as he bent around the stopped cars, their passengers clinging to the sides of their vehicles as he raced by.

‘Sei, how are we going to know where to find them?’ Ichika’s voice sounded hollow through his helmut.

‘I don’t know,’ he admitted, biting his lip as they continued to race through the blackness. ‘I just have a feeling. Try sensing for them Ichika.’

‘But I don’t have the amulet anymore,’ Ichika protested, her breath torn from between her lips by the speed of their travel.

‘Do you have your shard?’ Sei asked, waiting for her rushed yes in response. ‘Then I think, we might still have some residue of the power, even if we can’t see them, we know. Try concentrating and holding the shard.’

‘I can’t do that at this speed,’ her voice shouted.

Sei stopped his motorcycle, the tires leaving burned traces across the road.

‘We have no choice,’ he shouted, clutching the shard in his pocket and pulling it out. ‘Come on Kai, you have to help us. Help me find you.’

They stood there, the ocean waves beating across the bay, matching the rhythm of their breath, their hearts as they panted and squeezed tighter. The shards cut into their hands, blood dripping onto the pavement as they concentrated.

‘No, no I can’t-’ Ichika’s voice echoed in the night. ‘I can’t feel them. I can’t see with their eyes anymore. Manatsu. Manatsu please, you can’t be gone.’

‘They’re not,’ Sei’s voice gritted, his teeth clenched. ‘If we can find Saya and the mirror, we can get them back.’

‘But how?’ Ichika asked.

‘With these,’ Sei held up the shard. ‘They’re part of the mirror, but left behind. That has to mean that Saya is afraid to rejoin with them, afraid they’ll break free again.’

‘Do you really think so?’ Ichika’s voice chirped with hope.

‘I have to, I can’t imagine him gone forever,’ Sei’s voice dropped down. ‘We need to keep searching until we find them. Search as long as it takes.’

‘But I have school,’ Ichika’s voice laced with doubt, her bleeding hands smearing into the cotton of her blouse as she held the shard close to her breast. ‘And the police, they’re looking for-’.

‘Ichika, we can’t let some other person go through what we have,’ Sei said, staring straight out into the ocean. ‘Saya won’t stop until she’s found someone willing to make that twisted decision.’

‘We can’t let someone else get hurt,’ Ichika’s voice filled with resolve and her hands opened around the shard. ‘Not like this.’

‘Hey,’ Sei’s voice shouted into the air. ‘Hey if you’re out there listen. We understand, we understand your pain. Let us help you! Please!’

‘Don’t fall to the darkness,’ Ichika’s voice joined his. ‘You’re not alone!’

‘Don’t trust Saya!’ Sei’s voice screamed. ‘Don’t believe her rules! Hey you, whoever you are from the mirror! Don’t fall for it!’

Suddenly the air around them crackled and a scythe sliced within inches of their faces, embedding itself into the ground before them.

‘You! What do you think you’re doing!’ Saya’s voice cracked from the night, her hand gripping the shaft of her scythe. ‘You know the penalty for breaking the rules.’

‘Damn your rules,’ Sei shouted. ‘Give me back Kai. Give me back those last six years.’

‘This is so unusual for you,’ Saya noted. ‘You’re usually so quiet and shy. Reserved.’

‘This is me too. The me inside,’ Sei admitted. ‘The me from six years ago, crying out for Kai.’

‘The same Kai who lured you to me, who convinced you to use the amulet, the Jinn,’ Saya mocked. ‘Why do you still want that boy, after all he’s done.’

Sei glanced away, the shard cutting even further into his hand.

‘Yes, yes you’re right Kai and Manatsu, they both deceived us,’ Ichika’s voice piped up as she stepped forward. ‘But they love us and they were doing what you ordered them to do.’

‘Exactly,’ Sei pointed at her. ‘You left them no choice!’

‘Idiot! Irrational children,’ Saya snarled. ‘They’re not real. They’re just part of my mirror.’

Behind her the air shimmered as the mirror, with its two missing shards, popped into existence. Another hole had developed, widening the gap along the top.

‘How can you say that with a mirror like that?’ Sei pointed to it. ‘How can it even give a proper reflection at this point, all broken like that?’

‘Quiet,’ Saya commanded, swinging her scythe to his throat and leaving it against his jugular. ‘You forfeited your right to this game. Both of you.’

Around them the air popped with the sound of returning electricity and Saya glanced around an irritated tsk escaping from her lips.

‘Looks like that kid is done here,’ she laughed, her scythe moving down. ‘Don’t try breaking the rules again or I will kill you.’

‘No, no Manatsu,’ Ichika fell to her knees holding the shard in front of her. ‘Please, give her back.’

‘Selfish idiots,’ Saya sat on her scythe and floated up. ‘You still want such broken, pitiful creatures.’

Sei stood, looking down at the shard in his hand and then past Saya.

‘No, no more. I won’t let you control my life anymore,’ Sei leapt forward, dodging past her scythe, his legs remembering all the soccer moves from his youth, all the weaving and movement, his arm raised, the shard hard and jagged in his hand as he advanced towards the mirror. ‘Now Ichika, strike now!’

Ichika sprang after him, her own shard extended as Saya disappeared faster than the speed of light, appearing before Sei and impaling him on her scythe.

‘Silly stupid fool,’ she shouted. ‘You’ve lost your life now too.’

‘No,’ Sei whispered, blood gurgling from his lips. ‘You have.’

The shard in his hand impaled the mirror, a spiderweb series of lines shooting from the point of entry. Ichika thrust her own shard into another portion causing the wall of shining reflection to collapse into a thousand shivering pieces, covering them as Saya exploded, her scythe disintegrating in Sei’s chest.

‘Kai, wake up Kai,’ Sei whispered, the blood spilling down his chin, dripping onto the broken mirror reflecting his image countless times. ‘Please, I know you’re there. I’ve saved you, like you saved me six years ago.’

‘Sei! Sei!’ Ichiko’s voice shouted, her hands clutching at him as he slid sideways, falling onto the pieces. ‘Help, someone help us!’

‘What’s wrong,’ a voice called from above, a young man carrying a girl still in her Jinn outfit in his arms. ‘Where’s Saya?’

‘Please,’ Ichika begged, clutching Sei’s hand in her own. ‘Please, help us. Use the remaining Jinn to save Sei. To bring back Kai and Manatsu.’

‘The missing pieces?’ the man asked, holding the girl closer to him. ‘The misplaced ones, who broke the rules. I can’t, Saya will be angry and punish her.’

‘Saya’s dead!’ Ichiko yelled. ‘We killed her.’

‘Mirror lady?’ the young girl’s eyes fluttered open. ‘Like the mirror in Snow White?’

‘Yes,’ Ichiko sobbed. ‘It was her fault. She’s manipulated all of us for her game.’

‘Kai,’ Sei’s eyes fluttered open. ‘Let me see Kai one more time, please.’

‘But how?’ the young girl’s eyes filled with confusion. ‘I don’t have that kind of ability.’

‘I don’t know,’ Sei whispered. ‘Believe in yourself and ask the Jinn for help.’

‘I’ll help you,’ Ichika said. ‘I’ve done this before so don’t be afraid. If we all put our thoughts and efforts towards this we can do it.’

‘But why?’ the girl asked, dangling the cord of the amulet from her fingertips. ‘Why should I help you, or him or anyone on this planet? Everyone is hurtful and deceives me. Everyone is mean and cruel.’

‘Even your friend there?’ Ichika asked, her voice low and gentle as her fingers reached out to touch the amulet. ‘Even your family, your parents and your other friends?’

The girl grew quiet and looked at her thoughtfully.

‘Everyone lies and cheats and does deceitful things,’ she continued.

‘Yes, sometimes people do,’ Ichika agreed and Sei nodded next to her. ‘We hurt each other and we get caught up in jealousy.’

‘We do rash things in our fear,’ Sei added. ‘We get caught up in loneliness. We forget ourselves.’

‘Hey, hey don’t say things like that,’ the young man pleaded, tears rolling down his cheeks. ‘We can’t break the rules.’

‘Saya already has,’ Sei said, his voice clear. ‘She encourages us to give up on ourselves and look only for the darkest parts of humanity. Her mirror doesn’t reflect truth or even us. It distorts. It reflects what we want most in the world, not what’s in the world.’

‘Like you,’ Ichika pointed to him. ‘And Manatsu.’

‘And Kai,’ Sei agreed.

‘What will happen?’ the girl asked, staring down at the amulet. ‘I’m scared.’

‘I don’t know,’ Sei reached forward and put his own hand on the amulet, the three of them cradling it between them. ‘But I don’t want to be alone anymore. None of us do. We all want our mirrors to reflect them as well.’

‘Yes,’ Ichika agreed, concentrating on an image of Manatsu smiling, laughing, arguing, watching her.

‘Yes,’ the girl answered, her young man’s hand on her shoulder, his own power feeding her as she started to transform.

‘Yes,’ Sei finished, his own form shimmering as he thought of Kai, good and bad, ugly and beautiful, all the moments standing between them.

Around them the shards rose, swirling in a cloud, spinning faster and faster as slowly the gems re-animated, the Jinn pulled forcefully from them and surrounding the group. The shards around them spun, the images filling with Kai and Manatsu and countless other images. Other mirror children called at the age of fourteen to answer Saya’s twisted call. The light grew brighter between their hands as they absorbed more and more of the Jinn’s sight and power, their clothes morphing from sun and moon, to terra and aqua, flame and flower, darkness and electricity and forward.

Then the last gem lit up and Saya rose from the millions of images spinning between them, stepping forward and clutching her scarf, her white skin cracked in countless places, shattered hollow in her cheek and side.

‘You will not win,’ she snarled, raising the scythe. ‘You will not be allowed to deviate from the rules.’

‘You’re the Jinn of the mirror,’ Sei intoned, his eyes glowing with the colors of the eleven other Jinn. Ichika and the others standing behind him. ‘You are designed to show us, show us your vision. Lend us your power.’

‘Never!’ Saya shouted, her hands clawing at her face, her scythe writhing in her grip. ‘You must not break the rules! You must decide the fate of the world! Who will die, you or the world! Tell me! Tell me!’

The light expanded, engulfing them as they absorbed Saya’s sight into their own, their outfits morphing into a swirling pattern as they looked with her eyes through all the mirrors of the world and saw. Saw the vanity, hatred, cruelty, sadness, loneliness of humanity. The lies and guilt, bared open before the mirrors, the tears and confusion.

‘We choose,’ they intoned. ‘We choose Kai and Manatsu. We choose the other children of the mirrors. We choose their lives over all others.’

‘They’re not real!’ Saya screamed! ‘They do not live!’

‘Then we let them live through us,’ they continued. ‘With us. We will shorten our lives to let them live. We do this willingly. No tricks. No distortions. Only the clear reflection of our own soul. Lend us your power, grant us our wish and let the world live on, reflecting all of us good and ill.’

‘No,’ Saya screamed as the mirror formed around her, trapping her inside it and reflecting Kai and Manatsu. ‘No this is against the rules.’

‘We will die before other men and women,’they continued. ‘We will live only half their span. We are sacrificing ourselves for the world. Just not immediately.’

‘That’s against the rules!’

‘So is lying, even white lies, even your lies,’ Sei stared at her. ‘Even you’ve admitted to bending your own rules.’

‘That’s different!’

‘Not so much,’ Sei responded, reaching his fingers out and touching the clear glass. ‘Not even enough to count. You’ll get us, but not until we’re done living.’

‘Yes,’ Ichika agreed, reaching out her arms towards Manatsu.

The amulet rose into the air, the power of the surrounding eleven Jinn causing the air around them to grow heavy and the glass to bend forward as Kai and Manatsu struggled through the glass.

‘You won’t win, I won’t let you!’ Saya screamed, holding her middle and falling to her knees. ‘You can’t win by cheating.’

‘Why?’ Kai burst forth and stared down at her, Manatsu next to him. ‘You’ve cheated this entire time.’

Saya’s hands curled into claws as she thrust forward, but too late, the power of the Jinn expanding into a kaleidoscope of swirling memories, images, people, hopes and dreams, shooting into the sunrise as the twelve Jinn disappeared, leaving only six exhausted bodies collapsed on the highway.

 

When Sei woke up the street was flooded with police cars, the original detective chewing on a toothpick as he advanced towards the dirty, torn up group.

‘You’re under arrest for the disappearance of Kai Toudou and the abduction of Ichika Tachibana,’ the detective’s voice ground out. ‘Do not resist.’

‘No, you don’t understand, he didn’t abduct me!’ Ichika’s voice sounded out from behind Sei, where she stood her bleeding hand grasped by Manatsu.

‘Hey, hey who’s disappeared?’ Kai stepped in front of Sei, raising his arms out to shield him. ‘I’m right here.’

‘We need to take you all in for questioning,’ the detective’s eyes bored holes into Kai and Sei before pointing to Ichika. ‘And to notify your parents young lady.’

‘Looks like we’re going to be spending a lot of time at the station,’ Sei whispered, his hand grabbing Kai’s shoulder.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Kai turned to look at him, his lips blossoming into a beautiful smile. ‘We’ll see it through together.’

‘Always?’ Sei’s voice trembled.

‘For the rest of our life,’ Kai promised, turning to pull his brother into a hug as the police surrounded them. ‘I love you.’

‘And I love you,’ Sei clung to him. ‘Forever.’

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my partner for their beta. Thank you to mikeneko for this series. Once upon a time I saw this in the store, but couldn't buy it and forgot the title. Years later you gave me the chance to get acquainted with this gem through sheer coincidence. Thank you.


End file.
